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So
you want to learn a musical instrument? We advise you what instrument to
play, where to buy one, how to get lessons, what it will cost -
everything you need to know about instrumental tuition
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Pay the Piper
The Trumpet & the Cornet
Family: Brass
Cost: from £185 (we've seen them cheaper, but are uneasy about the quality of the very cheap instruments)
Best age to start: 10 years upwards
Easy to start? Yes, quite easy
The Trumpet consists of a narrow tube of brass coiled round on itself
to save space. The sound comes out of the flared bell, and is made by
blowing a "raspberry" with your lips into the cup-shaped
mouthpiece. In effect, your lips are vibrating like the reed of a
clarinet, and this vibration becomes musical sound in its passage
through the specially-shaped bore of the trumpet. You can obtain a
number of different "open" notes in this way by varying the
tension of your lips (try blowing a raspberry and smiling at the same
time), and can then produce the notes in between by pressing different
combinations of valves. The valves divert the air through little extra
lengths of tubing, thus making the instrument temporarily a bit longer
and therefore deeper. There are three valves.
Trumpets are essentially orchestral instruments, although they are
much used in jazz bands as well. The Cornet is very similar to the
trumpet, but is an instrument mostly used in brass bands. The
difference between them is that the trumpet has a cylindrical bore
(the tube is much the same width for most of its length) while the
cornet has a conical bore (it gets gradually fatter the further you
get from the mouthpiece). In theory, the cornet is a miniature tuba,
and the trumpet is ... well, a trumpet! In practice the difference is
that the cornet has a softer, sweeter sound and is a little more
agile, while the trumpet has that hard, bright sound orchestral
composers love. For you as a beginner, the two instruments are
indistinguishable except that cornets might cost a little more as they
don't sell so many of them. Trumpets and cornets are carried in one
piece, in rigid protective cases. The modern ones are quite small and
light.
Cornets and trumpets are transposing instruments, usually described
as "Trumpet/Cornet in B flat". This means that when you play
Middle C on the trumpet, the sound that comes out is actually the B
flat below it so all your music is modified to suit. Therefore you
won't be able to play the same music as your friend who plays the
flute (well, you can, but it won't sound too good!). The system of "transposing"
instruments is a bit of a nonsense, and has its roots way back in
musical history. It would be far more sensible to do away with it so
that all instruments could play from the same music, but this would
mean (a) re-educating all the trumpeters in the world, and (b)
re-printing all the music - so instead we carry on perpetuating this
out-of-date and ridiculous system!
There are other types of trumpet and cornet, especially very small
ones like the "Bach Trumpet" that play in different keys and
are used for specific purposes. These don't concern you as a beginner,
though - you need an instrument in B flat. A relatively new
development is something called the "pocket trumpet" offered
by some dealers. This may be suitable for beginners, but we haven't
had the chance to look at one yet.
You hold the trumpet in front of you with the mouthpiece to your lips
(obviously!) and the bell directly forward. Your right hand operates
the valves, while the left supports the instrument. Both trumpet and
cornet are easy instruments to start, but the amount of puff required
is considerable, and it is rare for players to begin before they are
10 or 11 years old. It is not unknown for pupils to start on the
trumpet and transfer to the more difficult French Horn later - a
shrewd move as there are lots of trumpeters and not many horn players.
The trumpet can play in orchestras, wind bands, jazz bands, brass
bands and sometimes pop groups. The cornet is used in brass bands
principally, but can also be seen in jazz and wind bands. However,
there are quite a lot of young trumpeters around, and it could be hard
to get a place in such ensembles so from this point of view the
opportunities for group music-making are not as good as we would like.
There is little to go wrong with a trumpet as it has few moving
parts. It is easily dented, of course, and this can be expensive to
repair especially if the damage is so severe the lacquer which
protects the brass surface has to be renewed. The few moving parts are
in the valves, and these do give trouble but not too often. Do not be
tempted to take them to pieces until you are absolutely certain you
know what you're doing - they look simple but it's easy to put them
back wrong and damage them. There is little maintenance to do on a
trumpet, but the tuning slides need to be moved and greased from time
to time, and the valves will need a very little special "valve
oil".
Trumpets are cheap to buy - from roughly £190, while cornets are
a little more expensive. They are all the same size. Beware of prices much less than this, as the quality of the valves may be poor. Yamaha trumpets
and cornets are considered to be very good for beginners but are a
little pricy. Other popular makes are Besson and Conn. If you fancy
trying the cornet, contact your local brass or silver band (silver
bands are just brass bands with silver-coloured instruments!). Some of
them have excellent schemes where you can get the loan of an
instrument and some tuition thrown in. Of course, you'll have to join
the band when you are good enough - but you'd probably want to do that
anyway, wouldn't you?
You might want to consider buying a trumpet online - you can often access some of the cheapest prices this way. Click on the picture at the foot of this page to go to the website of SigNetMusic, a reputable British supplier who supply all over the world and offer a good range of reasonably-priced trumpets.
One last thought - you can get sexy black trumpets these days. Very
cool-looking, but beware - the paint'll chip.
To learn more about the trumpet, get "The Rough Guide to the
Trumpet and Trombone" - you can buy it online at a discounted
price by clicking
here.
Two of the most popular tutors for beginners are
Learn
as you play trumpet and cornet and
Abracadabra
Trumpet. While it's always best to have a teacher, many people
do try to learn the trumpet by themselves.
A
Tune a Day for Trumpet is fairly old and may no longer be the
best trumpet tutor book around, but we still think it's particularly
suitable for lone students.
We also searched for a CD that would show you the trumpet being
played in a variety of styles, and we think one of the best is by the
American virtuoso
Wynton
Marsalis.
SUMMARY
Cheapish instrument
Easy to start
Not too hard to find a teacher
Opportunities for group music-making are not always good because the
instrument is popular
Not particularly prone to damage
Easy to transport
Avoid instruments with a painted finish
SigNetMusic.com |
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